Asmae Laraqui Housseini

A multidisciplinary visual artist born in Morocco and based in Montreal, Asmae Laraqui explores material as a receptacle for memory and identity. Holding a bachelor's degree in visual arts from Concordia University, she has established her signature on the international contemporary scene, from Canada to Denmark and Portugal. A recipient of prestigious grants (Conseil des arts de Montréal, CALQ), she refined her mastery of ceramics during research residencies at the Guldagergaard International Ceramic Research Center and Officina de Barro.

Based in her Mile-End studio in Montreal, Asmae conceives creation as an act of mediation and transmission. Her practice, both narrative and experimental, revolves around sculptural series that question our relationship to roots and territory. In 2026, her selection for the Rocabella residency, organized by TOPO and Art'Up Résidences, marks a new chapter in her exploration of organic forms. Between ancestral technique and contemporary vision, Asmae Laraqui shapes works that capture the essence of the living, transforming clay into a universal language of communication and sharing.

For her residency at Rocabella, Asmae Laraqui joins the collective project 'Les Gardiennes de la Mer' (Guardians of the Sea). Inspired by her Moroccan heritage and her experience of Nordic landscapes, she wishes to explore the figure of the ocean-woman through ceramic sculptures combining power and fragility. For Asmae, the Rocabella estate, with its neoclassical architecture overlooking the Mediterranean, becomes the ideal sanctuary for the emergence of totemic forms dedicated to the protection of the coastline.

Her research focuses on the hybridization of textures: the grain of raw clay to evoke the rugged rocks of the Var and crystalline glazes to recall the transparency of the depths. Asmae's 'Guardians' are motionless sentinels, sculptures with organic lines that seem to have been carved by the surf itself. Drawing on the serene atmosphere of the estate, she creates a dialogue between the sacred and the living, proposing an installation where each piece becomes a witness to marine memory. At Rocabella, Asmae Laraqui transforms ceramics into an ode to the sentinels of the blue, fixing in clay the eternal and protective movement of the sea.